


Mall Trip

by Bleck



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: F/M, M/M, Nonbinary Tobias, Polyamory, Swearing, autistic tobias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 21:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11322240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bleck/pseuds/Bleck
Summary: The animorphs try and have a relaxing day at the mall.





	Mall Trip

**Author's Note:**

> I'm both sorry and not that the mall isn't a big focus.

"We should go to the mall to celebrate." Marco said. For the fifth time in as many minutes. He was laying on top of a hay bale and repeatedly throwing a baseball up and catching it. At least he was trying to.

"It might be the end of the world, but I agree with Marco." Rachel said, sitting on her own hay bale. "Stores have more sales on Sunday to." Not that Rachel needed a reason to go to the mall but the mission we had just finished was a better excuse than most. 

"I would especially enjoy cinnamon buns. Bunzuh. Zz." Ax said, in his human morph because Cassie's dad had come out to the barn a few minutes before. 

Surprisingly that hadn't ended in total disaster. It was actually Ax who came up with the excuse for why we were all hanging around Cassie's barn at close to nine at night. Stargazing. Walter, Cassie's dad, was actually more than happy to help. Which was why he was looking for his telescope in his attic with Cassie. He was even kind enough to make sure we reminded our parents where we were. Yippie.

"We could do that." Tobias agreed, sitting between my legs and leaning against me. They had been focused on us and almost missed Walter stepping outside. Since there was a hungry owl that had tried to eat them a few days ago, they morphed human to hang out here where it was safer for a little while. And they had happened to be perched above me before they morphed.

"Really?" I questioned. Tobias usually felt uncomfortable in their human morph.

"Sure. It's been a while since I had french fries." I felt like they were being evasive but I didn't want to call them out on it in front of everyone.

"What do you say, oh fearless leader?" Marco asked. He missed the ball again and tried to grab it before it hit the ground. He got it but he accidentally rolled off and hit the floor. "Ow. Now we have to."

"I don't really know why it's up to me if you can hang out at the mall or not. But I guess we could." I conceded.

"Victory feast, hell yea!" Marco said excitedly. He was still on the floor.

"You have enough money for a feast?" Rachel snorted.

"Do you?" He said back.

"I never said I wanted one, moron."

"Fine, victory meal. Happy?"

"I will be when you finally shut the hell up."

"How scary, Xena." He said, standing back up.

"Fuck off, Marco." Rachel said. She wasn't actually angry though, they were just bickering to release tension.

"Gasp! Rachel!" Marco said, exaggeratedly offended. "Think of your boyfriend's delicate hawk ears, I don't think they can take all this swearing." None of us knew a good word to replace boyfriend or girlfriend so Tobias said they were fine with either.

Tobias turned pink. "At least I can catch a ball." They mumbled.

"A challenge!" Marco called, tossing the ball to Tobias.

They grabbed it out of the air and Marco stuck his tongue out at them. Tobias rolled their eyes and began tossing the ball up and down. Marco couldn't get five in a row, Tobias got at least fifteen.

"Ok, why are you so good at that?" Marco asked with a glint in his eyes. He had something planned.

"What else was I supposed to do when I was bored in my bedroom and there wasn't any lights?" Tobias shrugged. They had mentioned recently that their uncle's power was occasionally shut off and I guess they were still thinking about it. They couldn't have set that up any better if they tried though.

Marco wiggled his eyebrows. "Masturbate like a normal person."

Tobias squeaked and failed to catch the ball. 

Marco laughed so hard he fell off the hay bale again.

Rachel kicked him and he shut up.

"What is mast-?"

"No!" We all called out. None of us had any desire to explain...that kind of stuff to him. 

"Is that a topic all humans are embarrassed about?" He asked. I had the feeling he was teasing us but it was hard to tell.

The barn doors opened back up and Cassie walked in alone. "Dad couldn't find the telescope but he hopes we can see something cool anyway. What did Ax try to eat now? I heard you shout." She said, looking at me. Or Tobias. She smiled, again at either me or Tobias. Maybe both of us. 

"I was asking them a question about a remark Marco made. He mentioned something called mastur-" Ax began.

"Please stop." Cassie blurted out before he could finish. Now I was pretty sure he had been teasing us. "So, are we going to the mall tomorrow?" That was definitely directed at me.

"Yea. We could all use a break." I said. "Marco wants to celebrate. Let's meet up around four."

"Hell yea I do. That last mission was actually a success and none of us almost died. I don't know about you, but not almost dying is pretty good in my book." Marco said.

"Only pretty good? You'll never get a date if your expectations are that high. That's without factoring in the rest of you of course. Maybe you could be a footstool though." Rachel said, gesturing to his face being the rest of him.

"Oh, go for the short joke why don't you." 

"Now that you ask." Rachel said but she didn't actually follow it up with a joke.

"If it is safe now, I will demorph and return to my scoop." Ax spoke up. "You can sleep in my scoop if you wish, Tobias. If the owl is still around." Ax began to demorph and we all looked away. Not that we could do anything about the sounds of bones scraping together. Morphing was usually pretty gross.

"Thanks, Ax." Tobias said though they didn't move to demorph.

They must have said something in private thought speak because once Ax was fully andalite again, he bid us all a good night and left without waiting for Tobias to follow.

"Yea, I guess I should go catch the bus." Marco said, standing up and looking at me. I shook my head. Then he looked at Tobias and rolled his eyes. He gave us all a wave before he left.

"You're sleeping over still, right?" Cassie asked Rachel.

"Yea. Might as well." Rachel said, giving her a smile.

The four of us had a thing. Sort of. Cassie and I liked each other so we had our thing, Tobias and I liked each other and we had a thing, Tobias and Rachel liked each other and they had a different thing, and Rachel had a thing with Cassie. But I definitely didn't have a thing with Rachel, obviously, but Tobias and Cassie didn't have a thing either.

Rachel got up and came over. She gave Tobias a quick kiss on the forehead then gave me a smirk and dragged Cassie out of the barn. They'd probably make out a bit. 

Tobias and I might make out a little. Or maybe they just wanted to cuddle. I wasn't sure why we were still in the barn really.

"I don't mind spending time with you, Tobias, but i'm pretty tired." I said after the girls had been gone for a few minutes.

They didn't say anything.

"Tobias?" I asked, poking them in the cheek for good measure. Before I did, I realized their eyes were closed. They had fallen asleep pretty quickly I guess. 

"Oh, yea. We need to leave." They apologized, eyes snapping open after I poked them. Tobias had to sleep lightly because of me. Because of me they could never really, deeply, sleep ever again.

"Yea. You could crash in my room though. If you want to give the owl some space." I said. They were in this situation, having the dangers we all did plus the dangers of regular hawk life, because of me. Even though I knew the fact they got trapped as a hawk was as much a decision as it was a necessity, I still felt responsible. "Or if you just want to hang out." I quickly amended, no one really liked being pitied. Not that I was pitying them.

"Are you sure? What if your parents see a hawk in your room?" 

"I have a lock."

"Oh. Right." Things like that made me understand why Rachel got so angry on Tobias' behalf. The way they said it, it was almost certainly because they hadn't had a working lock and not because they forgot humans had locks. Tobias tended not to say all that though because they knew it bothered us. Not because it was annoying, but it was troubling. Just like how casually they mentioned their uncle frequently not paying for electricity. Rachel and Ax usually got angry, if Ax understood the situation anyway. I generally didn't say anything because they usually didn't want me to.

"So, do you want to have a sleep over?" I asked.

"That sounds nice." Tobias said, planting a kiss on my jaw. "Do you want to wait for a bus or fly there?"

"I left my window open, we should be able to fly there." I said. 

"Cool." Tobias said. They began to demorph right then which was super gross because they were still leaning against me. I didn't want to move though since they might fall over and that would be rude.

When they were finished, I morphed the peregrine falcon. The fastest animal alive, even faster than the cheetah. The first thing to change were my eyes, they became a falcons while I still had my human brain. So, even though they have way better vision, I couldn't make sense of what they saw. Seconds later as my brain shifted to become the falcon's, which was absolutely awful to think about, I could see. Then my lips hardened into a beak and my teeth dissolved. When I started to shrink I was still mostly human but I had a smattering of feather imprints. They became actual feathers when I was about half my normal size. My arms became wings and now I was mostly bird. Except for my feet. Those were still human which was absurd. They quickly became talons though. When I was fully morphed, we flew up and out of Cassie's barn.

It didn't take very long but we had to flap a lot to get to my house. Thankfully no one had been in my room and the window was still open. I demorphed as quickly as possible so I could lock the door. As I was walking to do that my door opened. I was in my ridiculous looking morphing outfit and Tobias was still perching on my windowsill. It was my mom.

"Oh, Jake. Look at the bird on your window!" She said, pointing.

Before I could tell her she was going to scare them away, so Tobias would know to fly off for a bit, they left.

"Mom." I complained, just to keep up pretenses.

"Sorry, honey. I'm not sure you should be feeding it though, it could attack you. What if it had rabies?" 

"That was a red tailed hawk, mom. Not a squirrel." I said.

"And when did you become the animal expert out of your group of friends? How do you know it can't get rabies?" She asked although she kept talking. "I was just coming in to make sure you were home, we weren't sure if you were still at Marco's or not. Did you get enough to eat?"

I hadn't actually eaten in probably close to fifteen hours. "Uh, I could go for some food actually. Thanks."

"There are leftovers in the fridge." She told me, looking me up and down. "You know, honey, you can normally return clothes if they're too small. You don't have to wear them just because you bought them. Well, you can't return them anymore. Just something to keep in mind." 

"Uh, yea. I'll keep that in mind." I said, blushing.

Tobias laughed in my head. I ignored them.

"Alright, dear." She closed the door. I locked it after her, listening to her tell my dad down the hall about how I managed to attract a bird to my window.

Tobias flew back inside, still laughing. 

"I don't have to feed you, you know. Not that I won't, I mean. I will if you're hungry." I said, back pedaling. I had no idea if Tobias had ever gone hungry or not and it wasn't something I wanted to joke about if they had.

They just hopped onto the floor and began to morph. I changed into pajamas while they did. Sweatpants and a loose t-shirt were infinitely more comfortable than my morphing outfit. The breeze coming in through the window was chilly so I closed it.

"I might eat. It depends on what you have. If not, it doesn't really matter. I'll just hunt more in the morning." Tobias said with a shrug.

"Do you want pajamas?" I asked as I set an alarm for an hour and a half.

Tobias's cheeks reddened slightly. "I'll take some pajamas, sure." 

"Ok." I said. Tobias blushed at strange times. It was just pajamas, right? I gave them a pair of sweats and one of my larger t-shirts. 

Tobias had a small smile on their face as they took them from me. I turned around so they could get dressed. When I heard them slip their shirt on I turned around. They weren't very subtly sniffing it. Had they been blushing because they were my pajamas?

They blushed even brighter than a second agao and stopped. 

"It's cute. I didn't realize I smelled good." I said.

"Yea. Really good actually.." They admitted, their small smile back.

"I'm gonna get food. I'll be back." I told them.

"Alright." Tobias said. They took a seat on my bed before laying down and spreading out entirely. 

I was about to ask them if they were always such a bed hog but I shut up. Obviously not as a hawk and they had probably never shared a bed before. I left to reheat the food before I said something to make them uncomfortable.

I came back a couple minutes later with a plate packed with food. Delicious mashed potatoes, ok meatloaf, honey glazed carrots, roasted green beans with garlic, and asparagus with lemon. Hopefully they liked asparagus because I wasn't about to eat it.

"I could only grab one fork, I hope that's ok." I said as I sat on the edge of my bed. Tobias was now curled in a ball and had their face in my pillow. They batted my hand away after I poked them.

"That's ok." They said, sitting up and scooching over close enough to bump shoulders. "Is that any good?" They asked, pointing to the asparagus tips.

"Yea, I was hoping you would like them. My dad does but I don't want to touch them." I admitted before taking a bite of the mashed potatoes. 

Tobias picked up a piece of asparagus and ate it. They must have been too tired to remember most food isn't designed to be eaten in one bite because they started to cough. 

"Tobias? Do you need help?" I asked, wishing I knew CPR.

<No.> Tobias responded in thought speak, shaking their head for emphasis. A harsh reminder their human shape was only a morph. They managed to swallow it. "It wasn't bad." 

"Try some potatoes." I offered.

Tobias took a forkful of them. "They're good." It was hard to tell if they were just being polite and didn't actually like them or if they actually did like them due to their lack of facial expressions and flat voice.

They took some of the meatloaf next. "It's alright. Greasier than rat but not very different taste wise." 

"I'm sure that would be appreciated."

"Sorry. It was a stupid joke." They mumbled, eyes suddenly glued to the floor instead of staring at me.

"My bad, I was joking to." I apologized. 

"You should eat until you're full. I don't want to steal your food." Tobias said, still looking at the floor.

"You're not stealing it. We're sharing. I can always get more." 

"Yea, maybe, but I can always find a rat or something. You should eat. You haven't eaten in a while."

"Neither have you." I said. Right then, their stomach growled.

"That doesn't mean anything. We have no idea how morphing deals with food. Eat, please." They said.

"Tobias, come on. Please eat with me? It would mean something if you did." I said, playing the romance card. When people noticed Tobias, they usually called them a dreamer. It wasn't wrong but not a lot of people paid a good amount of attention to Tobias, because they were a romantic first and foremost. Half their dreamy charm was them thinking about romantic scenarios.

Tobias looked up to pout at me, telling me they knew what I was doing and I laughed. It was an effort for them to make facial expressions so they were kind of dialing it up. Especially since they knew they didn't need to make facial expressions for me to be able to read them. Usually anyway. They ate another bite of meat loaf before giving me the fork back.

I ate most of the green beans, most of the potatoes, more of the meatloaf, and saved a couple carrot slices for Tobias. They could have the asparagus. Tobias stared at me while I ate. It was better than them staring at the floor. When I was done I handed them the plate.

I let them eat without watching. They got kind of uncomfortable since a lot of hawk habits bled through when they ate, like being hunched over and taking huge bites. Sometimes they almost forget to use silverware but I never comment on it. I didn't want to embarrass them. 

While they ate, I fiddled with my VCR and put in The Wrath of Khan. Tobias liked Star Trek more than I did for sure, but it was still a really good movie. I thought Star Trek was pretty cool but Tobias was in love with it. They'd probably seen every episode of every series. Twice.

"Hey, Tobias?" I asked after I sat back on my bed. After they put the plate on the floor they came over to sit next to me, cuddling into my side.

"Yea?" They asked once they were comfortable.

"What do you like more? Star Trek or dinosaurs?" 

Tobias opened their mouth to speak but closed it before sound came out. While they thought, they fiddled with their hands. Shook them actually, sort of like flapping their wings. Confusion was written all over their face.

"That's really hard, Jake. Like, wow. I had three hobbies: drawing, reading about or playing with dinosaurs, and watching Star Trek. We actually saw dinosaurs. We were dinosaurs. That's still amazing. Star Trek though was just so good. But now I've met actual aliens. I'm related to actual aliens. Dinosaurs I guess, by a slim margin. Both aliens and dinosaurs did try to kill us all but at least dinosaurs aren't going to try and kill us anymore. And birds might be a kind of dinosaur, did you know that? I might be a dinosaur! That was practically a childhood dream." Tobias answered, getting up and pacing as they talked. They were snapping their fingers and looking almost as excited like the time they morphed Dude for me.

We had come so far since then.

Tobias looked like they wanted to say something but the movie finally started. Focusing on the movie now, we cuddled together now with Tobias in my lap . They pushed their head under my chin and relaxed against my chest. I hadn't realized they were short enough to do that.

"Beep! Beep!" The alarm went off after a while into the movie and Tobias sighed. They got up, turned the alarm off, stripped, and demorphed. 

<Huh.> They said after they were fully hawk again.

"What's up?" I asked, turning around to look at them. They were focused on the tv.

<Dinosaur vision is apparently too good for movies.> They said, still nerding out. <I'm gonna morph again.>

"Ok." I said. Tobias morphed to his human self again, set the alarm again, put my pajamas back on, and sat back in my lap like they had never left.

There wasn't much left of the movie after they morphed though and they turned the tv off with the remote after it ended. It hadn't come as a surprise though, they had been shifting in my lap for the last few minutes.

"Hungry?" I asked, moving my chin to their shoulder instead. Maybe they needed to hunt.

"Not really."

"You're kind of squirmy." 

"Sorry." 

"You don't need to apologize. I don't mind." 

"Sorry. Uh, sor-." Tobias caught themselves. "Rachel says I don't need to apologize a lot to. It's just a thing I guess."

"Can I kiss you?" They asked, pulling on their fingers.

"Sure." I said.

"I mean, we don't have to or anything. It's ok if that's something you just want to do with Cassie. I...you know...I don't mind." They turned around to face me, still more in my lap than not.

"It's ok. We can do that. Cassie usually doesn't ask is all. I don't mind that you do." I said.

"Ok. So...I mean...is there something you want me to do? Like...uh...do you...I mean...I don't know where to put my hands?" Tobias asked, not looking me in the eye. Looking down, I noticed their hands were in their lap.

"I don't know. Usually Cassie and I are hugging when we kiss." I said. "Try that?"

Tobias wrapped their arms around me but neither of us were standing and it was awkward. "Try what i'm doing?" I had one hand in their hair and another on their hip.

"Ok." They said and copied me. It felt ok but they shook their head. "You're too tall, it feels funny."

"We could lay down?" I offered. Tobias nodded.

Since they were still in my lap, and it was my bed, I just leaned backwards. I figured it just made sense.

Tobias, apparently, was not ok with that idea. Their eyes went wide and they tried to flap the wings they didn't have and struggled to get out of my lap. They succeeded, wrenching out of my grasp and out of my lap. And promptly crashed on the floor with a squak.

"Jake?" My dad called from somewhere in the house.

"I'm ok!" I called back, hoping he wouldn't come to check. 

"Are you ok, Tobias?" I asked them. They had landed on their butt and looked a little dazed.

"Uh...yea, I think so. I'm gonna demorph though." They said as they stood up.

"Hold on a second." I told them, getting up and giving them a quick kiss on the lips.

They smiled. "Thanks." 

"You're welcome. You can demorph now." I said and looked away. I heard the soft sounds of them taking my pajamas off quickly followed by the very disturbing sounds of bones grinding and rearranging along with the other gross sounds of morphing. I turned around and they flapped to my headboard.

<Thanks for letting me sleep here tonight, Jake.> Tobias said. Whether it was an accident or not, I got feelings of contentment from them.

"You're welcome, Tobias." I told them as I settled in to sleep as well. The clothes could wait until tomorrow.

It usually took me a while to get to sleep. A lot of the time I knew nightmares were just around the corner or I was too tired to sleep after a mission or I was going over the mistakes I made. I don't know if it was because Tobias was right there, less than a foot away where I knew they were safe for at least one night, or not but I was able to get to sleep sooner than I had in months. Even the nightmares were different: in them I was being attacked by a silent predator coming from the sky. I woke up knowing exactly what it was. The owl that tried to kill Tobias.

<Good morning.> Tobias said.

That really woke me up, I didn't think they would still be here. "How'd you know I was awake? I haven't even opened my eyes yet. And I thought you weren't a morning person." I groaned into my pillow. 

Tobias laughed in my head. <You stopped snoring. It's cute snoring though, like a puppy.>

"Ugh." I rolled over and cracked open my eyes. "Light sucks." 

Tobias laughed again. <Can you open the window? I'm going to go hunt.>

"Why? You should eat with me." I told them.

<I think you might need to wake up a bit. Your parents don't know i'm here. Remember?>

"I know. What time is it?"

<9:37 according to your alarm clock.>

"Tobias, why? That works though. They shouldn't be up yet." I told them, sitting up and stretching. "Let me check. If you want to eat with me. I don't mind if you don't."

<I think I can do that. Sure.>

"Cool. You don't need to morph just yet though." I said, getting out of bed. "I'm gonna go check to make sure everyone else is asleep." 

<Ok.> They said. I was already out the door.

I came back a few minutes later. "My parents are asleep still. So it won't be weird if I say you decided to come over after a run. Well, it makes sense anyway." 

<Are you sure I won't be stealing your food? They might not have enough for five people.> Tobias said, worried.

"It'll be fine. Dad can just make more pancakes."

<Are you sure?>

"Absolutely. There's going to be plenty of food." I assured them.

"What are your breakfasts like?> They asked, cocking their head at me in that way birds do.

"Uh, normal I- sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

This time when Tobias laughed it was bitter. <It's ok, Jake. I didn't expect your parents to start drinking at nine and leave you to make your own breakfast.>

I didn't want to hear the answer I was expecting but I had to know so I walked around it. "Uh, your aunt, did she drink that early to?"

<Not usually. The food was better.>

"So have you...?" I trailed off. I still couldn't actually ask.

<I've had pancakes before, yea. If you were wondering, it was with my aunt. She made them but I had to clean them up afterwards. That was the thing at her house- cleaning.> They spat.

Tobias didn't elaborate and I wasn't sure I wanted to hear it. We'd both just be upset afterwards if they did. I knew she wouldn't have been any less abusive than Tobias' uncle. 

"Sorry." I said again.

<It's not a big deal anymore, Jake.> Tobias said. I knew it was a lie even if they didn't.

"It's gross and shouldn't have happened." 

<Can we just not talk about it? Please?>

"Yea, sure. Of course." 

We lapsed into silence. Tobias preened their feathers and I got dressed. I heard my dad moving around in his bedroom.

"You could probably morph now. If you still want to." I said.

<Sure.> Tobias said, still sounding grumpy. I shouldn't have pressed though, I know Rachel can get pushy sometimes about stuff to.

They started to demorph and I grabbed a shirt for them. The morphing shorts made more sense if I was still going to say they had been out for a run. It's not like Tobias was ever going to fit in my pants anyway. When I turned back, they were almost done. Tobias was human except for feathers being sucked into flesh. I gave them the shirt once they were done and they put it on over the morphing one. It's not like they would be wearing it for very long. Rachel would give them more clothes to wear at the mall anyway.

I lead the way down into the empty kitchen. I poured us each a glass of water before I sat down. Tobias still stood up, standing nearby. They looked at me before playing with the edge of the counter then looked back at me. I quirked an eyebrow.

"Um...can I sit on the counter? Or will someone get mad at...will someone get mad?" They backtracked. 

"No, it'll be fine." I said, ignoring what they wanted me to ignore. It was just empty counter space anyway, everything else was on the other end.

Tom walked in right as Tobias sat on the counter. He should've 'been at a friend's house'. Code for the yeerk pool. The Chee would've informed us if it had been important. Probably.

"Morning, midget." He said even though he wasn't even looking at me. The yeerk was focused solely on Tobias. "You're Tobias, right?"

"Yea." They said, staring right back. 

The Yeerks thought Tobias was homeless. They knew Tobias was the son of Elfangor, the Beast of the Yeerk Empire. Absurdly important just by existing. This wasn't good. I wish Marco was here, or Cassie. They'd figure out something to say.

"Thought you were homeless." Tom said, the yeerk in his head sounding totally casual.

"I moved." Tobias said, their face almost totally blank. I could tell they were nervous though. I didn't think Tom could. I hoped not.

"Where?"

"The other coast. Back with my aunt. I'm only visiting." 

"Ah."

"Morning you two." My dad said, walking into the kitchen and starting the coffee maker. He was either ignoring Tobias, who was still sitting on top of the counter, or he had been so focused on making coffee he hadn't seem them.

 "Wait a minute." He said, turning around and looking confused. Then he saw Tobias. "Good morning. I didn't realize Jake had a friend over. I'm sorry, when you get old like me you tend to forget names. What's your name again?" I'm not actually sure my dad ever met Tobias.

"Tobias." They said, looking at me instead.

"Did you sleep over? I don't recall Jake asking." He said, doing that sideways scolding parents did.

"I was out already and stopped to say hi." 

"Oh. Well, I'm just about to make pancakes! You wanna stick around for a plate or two?" He asked, smiling.

"That would be nice." They mumbled.

"Great. Why don't you give me a hand, Tom." Dad said. It wasn't a question. The yeerk in control of my brother rolled his eyes but started helping anyway. He went back to his room after he was done with the batter.

"What would you like in them, Tobias? You're the guest so you get the first few." Dad asked, looking at them. 

"What?" Tobias asked, suddenly looking very uncomfortable.

"What kind of pancakes would you like? I can add chocolate chips, blueberries, bananas, cinnamon sugar, or raspberries. Or a combination if you want, free of charge." Dad laughed at his joke but Tobias looked like they were about to bolt.

"Uh...raspberries, please. And...uh...chocolate chips if you don't mind." Tobias mumbled aloud, not even looking at me anymore. Their gaze was firmly glued to the floor while they started to flap their hands.

"That sounds delicious. I might just have to try that." My dad said, dropping a handful of each on all three pancakes. "Watch those for me, Jake. Can I talk to you for a second, Tobias?"

Tobias nodded meekly. I could practically feel their heart wanting to break out of their chest. They followed my dad out to the porch. 

Tobias relayed the conversation to me in thought speak since I wouldn't have been able to hear it.

<He asked me if I've ever heard of something called autism. I said yes. Now he's saying that he can't diagnose me and wouldn't want to after just meeting me but that it might help in school and stuff if I look into a test. I asked why he thought I might be. Because it seem weird, right? It's weird for a doctor to suggest a diagnoses right off the bat, yea?>

<He said there was a bunch of stuff like lack of eye contact, potential auditory issues, lack of facial expressions or tone of voice, sitting on the counter could apparently be a thing, the hand thing I do, and my apparent obsession with dinosaurs and Star Trek and some other stuff you've mentioned.> The last sentence had a very teasing current to it. 

I blushed. I might have mentioned some stuff sometimes. Tobias' pancakes were almost done so I prepared a plate for them.

<He stresses that he isn't diagnosing me but that it's just something I might want my parents to look into. Good grief. Now he wants to know if my parents know that i'm out this early or where I am. I've had to awkwardly explain that I don't live with them but yes, it's ok i'm here.> 

I put their pancakes on the plate and walked over to the door.

<He says sorry. Can I have some coffee? Would that be weird to ask? Would he say yes?>Tobias asked, looking at me.

I shrugged. I didn't know Tobias liked coffee.

"Could I have some coffee?" Tobias asked my dad.

"Kids your age don't need a lot of caffeine but a cup won't hurt. Sure." He said and followed Tobias back inside. 

Tobias took their plate and momentarily froze.

I sat back down when my dad started on the second batch of pancakes. Tobias followed suit and began to eat. Making sure my dad was focused on pancakes, I rubbed my thumb over Tobias' hand. They looked happy but it was more an eye thing. They'd really been hanging out with Ax a lot.

"How are the pancakes?" My dad asked after he sat some chocolate chips pancakes in front of me.

"Really good." Tobias said, pausing between bites. They had scarfed them down and only had half a pancake left. Tobias looked at me briefly, went back to eating, then looked at me again.

'Coffee?' I mouthed.

They blushed and nodded.

I gave them a small smile in return and poured them a cup. After I grabbed the sugar, I set them both down in front of Tobias. Again they eye smiled at me.

Before Tobias could ask what to do with their plate, my dad asked if they were done.

"No, uh, i'm done." They said and my dad took their plate. 

Dad plopped two of his own pancakes on the plate and sat them down. They were raspberry and chocolate chip like Tobias'. He grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down.

"How's the coffee, Tobias?" He asked.

"Nice." 

"Good, good. Mind if I?" Dad asked as he grabbed the sugar.

We were all pretty quiet for a couple minutes, just enjoying breakfast. At least my dad and I were. I wasn't very sure about Tobias. They fiddled with their cup more than they drank out of it. When I was done with my pancakes, I put my plate on the sink then sat back down.

"Those were fantastic pancakes, Tobias." My dad congratulated after he finished, as if Tobias had cooked them.

Tobias nodded briefly. "Yea." 

"We're planning on going to the mall later, is that ok? With Rachel and Cassie." I explained.

"Uh, yea, that's ok. Do either of you need money?" Dad asked looking at both of us.

Tobias shook their head. Their lips were firmly pressed together so I figured they were trying very hard not to make a bird like noise of surprise.

"No, that's ok. I don't really buy anything." I said.

"Well, take fifteen bucks anyway. Just in case." My dad said, getting up and walking to the living room where he had apparently left his wallet. He came back and gave me the money and a quick glance at Tobias.

"Thanks." Why was my dad giving me money for Tobias? They didn't look homeless; sure they were wearing an old t-shirt but it was one of mine, and the morphing shorts were created just a couple minutes ago. But my dad didn't have thought speech so I was left to pocket the money and wonder.

We thanked my dad for the pancakes again and Tobias dumped their leftover coffee out before we headed back to my room. I sat on my bed while they paced.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why but everything was suddenly too much. I've never been good with talking to people and especially not strangers. Then your dad just kept looking at me and asking questions and I freaked. I'm sorry." Tobias said, looking miserable. "I think it was because of my body. Humans have a really lame way of dealing with stress- fast heartbeats, sweat, and rising panic, especially when you're in a social situation you don't understand and can't fly away."

"It's ok now, right?" I asked. "Do you still feel upset?"

"No. I don't know. Maybe a little?" They made a vague hand gesture before sitting down and leaning up against me. I ran my hand through their hair and hoped that would help. Tobias got up and started pacing again after a couple seconds of that.

"It's ok I'm your second favorite." Tobias said, out of nowhere.

"What?" I asked. What did that mean?

"Like...that you like Cassie more. It's ok. It makes sense."

"Why do you think I like Cassie more?" I asked, totally shocked.

"She's prettier than I am, she's a lot nicer, she's not normally a bird who has to eat mice or worry about being killed by a stupid owl to start. It's finicky but I'm taller than her and it feels like you like short people. Obviously you're taller than me but still. She's smarter than me, you can take her on dates and not have to worry about how long you have in morph or where you can get dressed, she's not...damaged." Tobias gestured to themself.

"What the hell, Tobias? None of that is true. And you are not damaged!" I said as I stood up, furious at how poorly they thought of themself. 

They recoiled on instinct, terrified simply by my voice louder than normal. I had barely moved but they were prepared to be hit, sunk in on themselves and arms wrapped over their chest. Then they really broke my heart. Tobias stepped closer, arms dropped and shoulders slumped, head hung, and apologized. And it all happened in seconds. I realized I knew very little about how they suffered if Tobias was apologizing to me because they had made it slightly it harder to hit them. 

"I'm so sorry." I choked out and hugged them instead. "I'm so, so, sorry they hurt you." Even after everything we've been through and all the nightmares we suffer, what happened to Tobias is an entirely different kind of pain. I really can't imagine how hard it must have been.

"For the record, Tobias," I said after we both pushed the tears away. "I don't love you less than Cassie. You're not my second favorite. Maybe Cassie is nicer than you but she's nicer than all of us. You're both nicer than me, that's for sure. You're both pretty, you're just a different kind of pretty. Your height is fine, I'm a little confused about that honestly. She might know more about animals but you know a lot more about dinosaurs and history and Star Trek and, like, art...stuff than she does."

"And you're not any more damaged than the rest of us. Ok? Please don't think that. What you went through as a kid-" 

"I'm screwed up, Jake! I know I am. You don't have to lie. I'm constantly thinking you'll all just up and leave or decide you don't need me anymore, every time anyone raises there voice I'm afraid they'll hit me, I don't understand why anyone likes me, I'm constantly expecting any nice deed to have a catch, if i'm feeling particularly full of self loathing I start thinking I don't deserve any kind of love. And that's only the stuff I'm aware of."

I let all that sink in before I said anything and promised myself I'd remember everything they just said. "Ok, maybe you were messed up before any of us. But that doesn't mean you aren't worthy of being loved, alright?" I knew it wasn't going to change their mind but they needed to hear it at the very least. 

"I think I'm gonna go flying for a bit." They muttered. They might as well have said they were going to runaway from their problems.

"Can I come with you?" 

"That's ok. I'll meet up with you at the mall." Tobias said, taking off my t-shirt and morphing before I could say anything. I sighed but put the shirt and the pajamas from earlier away.

<Four, right?> They asked once they were fully hawk again.

"Yea, around then." I opened the window for them.

<I'll see you later, Jake.> Tobias said before flying off.

I spent most of my day watching tv and struggling with homework. Math was too hard. And utterly boring. History was better even though it still wasn't fun. Since it was homework. By the time three o'clock finally got here, I was itching to get away from school work and boredom. So instead of wasting more time here, I set off for the mall early. It would've been nice to fly there but it was too much of a risk for something like that so I walked like a normal person.

When I got there, even though I was a bit early, Tobias was sitting above the doors. Well, it might have been any red tailed hawk but I hoped it was Tobias. I sat down on one or the benches and sort of faced them.

<You're here early.> Tobias said.

I nodded before raising an eyebrow. Hopefully that made sense.

<Me? I spent the day with Ax before we headed here. He's off flying right now.> 

I nodded again.

<You don't have to wait out here, Jake. We're waiting on Rachel for clothes.> 

I shrugged. It wasn't like I had anything better to do.

Tobias couldn't roll their eyes as a hawk but I felt like they would've right then if they could.

<Ugh.> They muttered.

A group of people came out so I didn't want to try and ask what the matter was. Small groups of people went in before Tobias spoke up again.

<He's such a dick.> Tobias cursed.  

Wow, Tobias never said stuff like that. I scanned the area but didn't see anyone I recognized. A group of guys came close enough for me to get a good look at them and I understood why Tobias got so upset.

I didn't know any of their names, not for certain, but I definitely recognized them. They were the worst of the bullies that tormented Tobias. The guys I chased off once. But swirlies weren't the only thing they did. The bullies punched, kicked, and/or tripped Tobias, slammed them into lockers, constantly called them names, and more. The day I intervened they had done all of it in just one day according to Tobias. But I wasn't really aware it had been going on before. At least I hoped I wasn't.

The bullies walked past me and didn't seem to recognize me. I could feel Tobias' nervousness and disgust radiate from them, I didn't think it was on purpose. I wasn't sure if they were disgusted at them for what they did or that they had never fought back. Suddenly I couldn't feel anything from Tobias.

I looked up at them but they didn't say anything, just stared back. Hopefully they were ok.

<Prince Jake, Tobias, I have spotted Rachel and Cassie. As well as Marco but he is not with them. They shall be here soon.> Ax reported from somewhere. I saw a bird on the roof that might have been him but I wasn't sure. <Now Marco is with Rachel and Cassie. Rachel gave him a bag that likely has my clothes in it. I shall now dimorph in the bathroom we had selected.> The bird that I thought was Ax didn't move so I guess I was wrong.

We had specific bathrooms for morphing in. They were slightly secluded but not impossible to get to. When either Ax or Tobias needed to morph human and we hadn't met up already, they went there and locked the door to wait for one of us. For the past couple of weeks, Tobias has been waiting on Rachel or Cassie instead of me or Marco.

<I guess I should get going. See you in a bit, Jake.> Tobias said, flying off to the bathroom.

Before the other three could meet up, I finally went inside. We didn't want to make it seem like it was coordinated if Controllers happened to be watching. I immediately squinted at the harsh mall lights. It was sunny out and they still hurt.

I decided to wander around for a bit. Like I told my dad, I never really bought anything anyway. Marco and I spent most of our money at the arcade, otherwise we usually followed the girls around as Rachel dragged Cassie clothes shopping. Tobias and Ax didn't join us a lot, if Ax did we had to watch him and make sure he didn't get in trouble. It happened a lot more often than I would like.

After a couple minutes of aimless wondering, I made my way to the food court. It's where we always met up and, besides, who didn't like mall food? On the way there though, a mall stand caught my eye. It was selling art supplies. My dad did give me the money to spend on Tobias after all. Most of them were kid stuff so I ignored that. There was a couple adult art supplies but I had no idea if they were any good.

"Can I help you?" The attendant asked, looking helpful. They weren't much older than Tom.

"I have no idea. I have a friend who likes to draw but I don't know anything about art." I said.

"Honestly, kid, neither do I. You can't really go wrong with a sketch pad though, right?"

"I guess not." I said. There were three sketch pads under fifteen dollars and besides the size I had no idea what the difference was. A small one about eight bucks, a normal sized one with less pages also for eight bucks, and a big one for thirteen bucks. Tobias didn't spend a lot of time as a human and I wasn't sure how much they would use it if I bought one. I settled for the normal one.

When I got to the food court with my bag, the first person I saw was Cassie. She looked cute. But she always looked cute. Well, unless she was morphing an insect. Cassie was always cute as a person anyway. "Hi, Cassie." I said.

"Good evening. It's good to see you here." Cassie said, sounding kind of surprised. Just in case. "Oh. You actually bought something."

"Yea."

"What is it?" 

"Oh. It's a sketch pad. For Tobias. They've been spending more time in their human morph and I know they like to draw. Plus my dad gave me money to spend on Tobias for some reason so I did."

"Your dad gave you money to spend on Tobias?" Cassie parroted.

"Yea. It was weird. He made pancakes for us, talked to Tobias for a bit, then gave me money and looked at me like I should spend it on Tobias."

"When did this happen?"

"This morning. Tobias slept over, because of the owl and all that. They were going to go hunt but I said they should just eat with me. So they did." I explained.

"That sounds cute." Cassie said

"Yea, it was nice. Eating breakfast with you sounds nice to." I told her.

She smiled and placed her fingers on my hand. It was electric and I couldn't help but grin in return.

"Aww, how cuuuute." 

We both snapped our hands back and spun around. I glared. Marco winked.

"Is Marco's condition why you're glaring, Prince Jake?" Ax asked, standing slightly behind Marco.

"Condition?" Marco asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Sense of humor, I think it's called." Ax replied.

Cassie giggled at Marco's face. His mouth hung open like the time we were literally fish out of water. 

"Nice one, Ax-man." Tobias said, coming from my left and arm in arm with Rachel. "Marco's just jealous because he's single."

Everyone knows Rachel has impeccable fashion sense. It's obvious even if you don't know her. But she really outdid herself with Tobias' outfit. Wow.

Tobias was wearing a black crop top, a plaid shirt tied around their waist which was red like their feathers, a jean vest, shorts, and combat boots with a plaid flap. Wow.

"You know, Xena, I think you might've broken Jake." Marco said. I wasn't really paying attention to him.

"The outfit isn't just for him." She said, making a show of looking Tobias up and down. They flushed but looked pleased at the attention. 

"What do you think, Jake?" Rachel asked me.

"You look nice, Tobias." Even I knew that that was pretty lame.

"Just wait until I get Cassie in a cute outfit." She said with a grin. Rachel was certainly enjoying herself.

"You know, Rachel, i'm starting to think you get off on-"

"You finish that sentence, Marco, and I will rip your tongue out and shove it-"

"Rachel." Tobias and I said at the same time. Neither of us were big on unnecessary swearing.

"Fine. Jake, you're a dork. You're adorable though, Tobias." Rachel said, rolling her eyes at us.

"Is that food in your bag, Prince Jake?" Ax asked, almost drooling just at the idea of food.

"Sorry, Ax. No food." I said.

He immediately lost interest in it. "Will we be getting some food shortly? Shhh. Short. Tt."

"Let's get this fiasco out of the way first." Marco decided for us.

"How do we want to do this?" Rachel asked. "Individually, with someone chaperoning Ax obviously, or as a group?"

"Do we all want to go to the same place?" Cassie asked.

"I vote Burger King." Marco said.

"I did not know your country had a king of burgers. Why would you like to elect them if they are already king? That is confusing." Ax said.

 We all stared. 

"That was humor. I am aware you are not ruled by a king. Tobias has explained restaurants to me." 

"It's funnier than everything Marco has ever said or thought." Rachel said, breaking us out of our shock induced paralysis. "Burger King sounds fine to me by the way."

"I don't mind either." Cassie said.

"Sure." Tobias said.

"Burger King it is." I said.

"We should pool our money together now so we can order all at once." Cassie said. "I can pay for you two, Ax and Tobias." 

"Not needed. Tobias keeps money they find with me for stuff like this." Rachel said.

"How much money do you have?" Marco asked, looking dubious.

"Over 200 bucks." Tobias said.

"Uh, excuse me?"

"Coinstar is useful. You'd be surprised by how many people drop bills though."

"Do you just spend days looking for coins?"

"Yea, sometimes." 

"Dude."

"Anyway, I'll get us a table." Tobias said.

"What do you want to eat?" I asked.

"Chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce, if they have it. French fries would be nice to." Tobias said.

"Alright." I said.

Tobias gave Rachel a peck on the cheek which they had to stand on their tip toes for. It was cute. Then they walked off to find a table.

The rest of us got in line for the Burger King. Marco, Cassie, and Rachel decided I should be the one to pay. Cassie took my bag for me. Besides Cassie having to tell Ax he couldn't just grab one of the pies from over the counter, there wasn't actually an incident while we ordered. It was a pleasant surprise. I was sure the lack of any incidents wouldn't last.

It didn't. But it didn't involve food. It didn't even involve Ax this time either. This time, it was Rachel.

I spotted Tobias first. Which also meant I spotted the three guys crowded around Tobias first.

"Rachel." I said in my leader voice. I didn't like that I had one but I did. It wasn't exactly great that they all snapped to attention either.

"There are three guys surrounding Tobias." I gave the tray to Marco and pointed them out to everyone. "We don't need to morph, just stay here. Hopefully it will be fine." Rachel gave her bag to Ax and we walked over. The bullies backs were turned so we got close enough to overhear them before they noticed us.

"I don't mind that you're a girl or whatever. I mean it. But, since you're all pretty, you might as well give me a kiss." One of them said. Clearly he was the leader. Tobias had picked a spot against the wall so the two guys next to them just had to sit close to basically pin them down.

"I'm not going to do that." Tobias said, expressionless and unconcerned.

"Aww come on, Toby. No kiss? We can work up to it. What about a smile?" 

Rachel looked at me. I nodded.

"How about you fuck off and leave Tobias alone?" She glared. Rachel was just as tall as the leader without shoes, taller in her heels.

The leader leered at her. "How about you sit down, gorgeous? We can show you both a good time." 

The guy closest to me moved a few inches. Probably to invite Rachel to sit down and to make it easier to punch me if it came down to it.

"Go fuck yourself, you creep." She spat. Followed by literally spitting in his face. Rachel was impressive.

"Bitch!" The guy jumped up.

Before he could do anything else, Rachel punched him in the throat.

Most people don't know a lot about how to fight. I don't. Not really. Not as a person. But my dad's a doctor and he's told me about the damage you can get from getting into a fight. Like how you can break your hand punching someone wrong or even if you punch them right but in the wrong spot. If Rachel had punched him in the nose, she probably would have busted her fingers. I don't know if she did it on purpose but the throat was safer. For her of course.

The guy's hands flew to his throat to protect it from further damage. It's instinct. It's a bad one in a fight. Rachel kicked him in the balls and he dropped. 

"Get the fuck away from Tobias." Rachel growled at his buddies. The fled with their friend.

Now it was our time to get the heck away from the mall. Security guards had to be on the way.

"Over here, now!" Marco called from our right. The three of us booked it towards him. We followed him around a corner towards the bathrooms. He crammed us into the family bathroom. "Strip and morph! Hurry up!" 

It would've been awkward if we weren't afraid of being arrested. We gave Rachel as much privacy as we could stripping in a bathroom barely bigger than a stall. 

I threw off my clothes faster than I thought I could and began morphing the peregrine falcon. Feathers burst out my skin as I started to shrink. My lips began to harden and smushed my teeth together as they became a beak. My teeth dissolved right after. Then my organs melted and my bones shifted and became hollow. My toes fused to absolutely repulsive fleshy talons before they shrunk and hardened into bird ones. I was fully falcon.

Rachel and Tobias were almost done. It was gross to look at.

"Quit staring, get the fuck out!" Marco hissed, jabbing at the open window. "Go to Tobias' meadow. Cassie and Ax are fine. Go!"

And I did. Marco might be a bit of a smart ass, not always a bad thing, but more importantly he was also a brilliant tactician. I trusted his plan. I flew out the window and soared into the sky. As I was gaining altitude, Tobias flew out the window. A bit after that, Rachel was shoved out the window. A bald eagle was a bit too big for the window. The three of us were safe though. And Marco was a human. Hopefully he hadn't been seen by any security cameras. I desperately wanted to wait around for him, Cassie, and Ax.

<Jake, come on. Ax says it's fine.> Tobias said slightly below me.

<Are you sure?> I asked.

<Yea. He said he messed with the cameras and the security guards walkie talkies. No one saw anything and Marco shouldn't be questioned. Unless they're racists but Marco can talk his way out of it. He's good like that. Ax is with Cassie.>

<Are you->

<Ax says Marco says we should be in the meadow before they are or we don't get any food.>  

<They saved the food?> I asked. I didn't really care about it honestly but if they had time to do that, it really couldn't be that bad. <Fine, let's go.> 

<Finally.> Rachel said. She was soaring above one of the skylights. Prepared to do something dangerous and utterly reckless. As always.

We flew off to Tobias' meadow. Tobias had the sense to remind us to spread out. A peregrine flacon, red tailed hawk, and bald eagle flying like geese would stand out.

Rachel and I demorphed as soon as we landed. The sensation of morphing wasn't any less gross but it was easier with more space and no threat hanging over our heads.

"So much for agreeing with Marco." Rachel said once she had a mouth.

"What?" I asked.

"Last night. Marco said we should go to the mall. I agreed. So much for that."

<It would've been nice besides...all that.> Tobias said. Instead of their usual branch, they were perched on the fallen tree Rachel and I were sitting on.

"All that meaning almost being sexually assaulted?" Rachel asked, pointedly.

Tobias didn't say anything. It was hard to tell, since they were usually a bird, but I thought that the fact that they hadn't morphed human again meant they might be shaken up more than they were letting on.

"Are you ok?" Rachel asked them, gentler now.

<Yea. Nothing happened. They were even able to save our food so we didn't end up wasting any money. And he deserved what he got anyway.>   

"What's that mean?" Rachel asked. Tobias was rarely, never, one for revenge.  

"They were the bullies I chased off." I explained.

"Those motherfuckers!?!" Rachel exploded, jumping off the tree and pacing because she couldn't hit them anymore. "That son of a bitch! If I had known, I would've knocked out all his goddamn fucking teeth! Son of a bitch." Apparently, she liked to swear. 

<It's not a big deal, Rachel.> 

"Yes it is! He hurt you almost every day for at least a year! The fucking bastard deserves more than a punch to the fucking throat."

<You did kick him in the balls. With pointy heels on. That was nice.>  

"That was fun, yea. It still wasn't enough though. That motherfucker really ruined what could have been a nice time." Rachel scowled.

"Yea." I agreed. Just hanging out at the mall was something we didn't get to do very often and it would've been pretty nice to try and relax.

<At the very least, we have Burger King and the others will be here soon. We just won't be at the mall.> Tobias said.

"No offense but your meadow doesn't have a sale at the GAP. And you looked cute as hell in that outfit. Right, Jake?"

I blushed a little. "It was nice." 

She gave me a look.

"Really nice." I amended. "I don't have it right now obviously but I bought you something, Tobias."

<You didn't have to do that.>  

"I know. But I did. I don't know if you'll like it or not or how much you'll use it. It's just a cheap sketchpad."

<Thanks, Jake. I like it already.> They tapped my arm with their head, kind of like a cat would. 

"You're welcome, Tobias."

<I'm going to fly around for a bit.> They said.

It took a while, at least half an hour, but eventually Tobias told us Cassie and Marco were coming.

"Where's Ax?" I asked when they showed up with all our stuff but without him.

"He's fine, getting a drink. We had to ditch most of the drinks." Marco waved me off. "Sucks you don't have a trash can here, bird brain." He shook his empty soda up at Tobias.

<Litter, find out what happens.> Tobias said. 

"I think Cassie will kill me before you get the chance." He said, laughing as he made a show of stepping out of her reach.

Cassie just rolled her eyes at his antics. "I'll make sure it's kept clean for you, Tobias."  

<Thanks.> They said. Suddenly, Tobias dropped into a dive. I was about to scream for them to pull up I was sure they were going to hit the ground. But as suddenly as they dived, they pulled back and landed gracefully on their regular perch above our heads.

"I don't know if I should be impressed or worried." I told them.

<Impressed? If anything. I was just doing it for fun, not to really show off.> They said.

"If Tobias is done scaring our fearless leader, we do have food I would really like to eat." Marco announced.

"You better not have eaten my chicken sandwich, Marco." Rachel threatend.

"I didn't but maybe I should, aren't you supposed to be vegetarian?" He taunted.

"Shut up. I eat as little meat, milk, and eggs as possible. At least it isn't beef." She said, getting up and walking over.

Marco distributed the food between the four of us currently human. He and I had burgers while the girls each had a chicken sandwich. The fries were still in the bag which was pretty nice. Marco sat down on the roots of one of the trees and brought his burger up to his mouth. He stopped before he took a bite though. "You know, before I start to enjoy my room temp burger, if you're going to eat this, Tobias, you should demorph. I don't want to watch you morph and puke it back up." 

<I'm tempted to wait now.> Tobias said.

 Marco stuck his tongue out.

"Very mature." Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"You should come eat with us, Tobias." Cassie said.

<Yea, I might as well.> With that, they flew down. Thankfully, because really only Cassie could morph nicely, they landed behind us. Half the grossness was still there as they morphed though. As we listened to the sounds of them morphing human, the sounds of a horse walking through the woods became almost as apparent. I couldn't see him but I was sure it was Ax.

<I apologize for my tardiness, Prince Jake. On my way to the stream, I was forced to wait for a group of humans to move on. They could not have seen me though.> Ax said.

"That's good, Ax." Tobias said with their human mouth before I could. They sat down on my right, my left side being occupied by Cassie. Rachel moved over to be next to Tobias.

<Is that the food?> Ax asked, more excited than a kid in a candy store. 

"Yup, now you can eat." Marco said to him. Ax was already morphing. "You have no idea how hard it was to not let him eat all of it on the bus." 

"Probably about as difficult as it is for us getting you to stop making bad jokes." Rachel said.

"Marco-"

"Yea, here it is. Enjoy." Marco gave Ax his burgers. "Fries are for after. It's just easier that way after whatever the hell happened at the mall. You know, speaking of, I almost forgot why the hell we had to run away like that. What the hell happened at the mall?"

"It's over." I said. 

"Yea, I think i'm aware of that." Marco retorted.

"Piss off, Marco. Tobias is hot and some dick thought he was entitled to more than looking. It's not a fucking issue anymore." Rachel snapped.

"Alright, sheesh. Excuse me for wanting to know why the hell our day got so screwed up. Ugh, the life on an Animorph. And it wasn't even animorph related." Marco complained. "Just our luck, we go to the mall to have some fun and we can't even do that right." 

"At least we have fast food." Tobias said, currently dipping a chicken nugget in sweet and sour sauce. They rested their head on my shoulder.

"I'd be more upset but you're lucky this is still good." Marco took a big bite of his burger for emphasis. 

"I am unsure which human author said this but, I believe the quote goes like this: After a good dinner one can forgive anybody." Ax said.

"Are you telling us to shut up?" Marco asked with a laugh.

"I think he means we should enjoy the food and each other." Cassie said.

"That sounds like a good idea." I said.

"You say that because you have two people willing to have sex with you." Marco whined.

"Two more than you'll ever have, you mean?" Rachel smirked.

"Well you're not getting any French fries." 

"Hey! I paid for some of those." 

"Now they're all mine." Marco got up and Rachel chased him around for her fries.

All in all, today had been a good day. 


End file.
